The fact that he had the year he did while playing behind a bad offensive line is impressive.

In addition to a leaky line, he dealt with a lot of injuries to his receiving corps. Keke Coutee, Will Fuller and Demaryius Thomas all missed games due to injury.

Imagine what Watson could have done behind capable protection and with consistently healthy teammates.

The Texans would have won more games and done so handily.

Watson threw for 4,165 yards and 26 touchdowns this season and rushed for 551 yards and five touchdowns. Those stats were enough to make him the first player in NFL history to have at least 4,000 yards passing and 25 touchdown passes and 500 yards rushing and five scores.

Bill O’Brien knows what he has with Watson is special.

“Every position is important,” he said Sunday. “But you have to have a quarterback, and we have a quarterback. There’s no doubt in my mind that we have the type of person and the type of quarterback that you need here to win in this league.”

With that knowledge, O’Brien and general manager Brian Gaine need to make the best decisions possible for Watson this offseason.

The Texans have a first round pick and two second round picks in the draft in a few months. It’s imperative that they find some help for the offensive line in the draft. When they make offseason pickups, they’ll need to acquire players who can help protect Watson and ultimately give him more chances to excel.

O’Brien said everything would be examined and considered this offseason, including his role in calling plays. If another playcaller will help Watson, the Texans need to make that change.

Watson needs to be surrounded with players and coaches that will help him succeed.

The Texans have their franchise quarterback. If he succeeds, so does the team.

The team will have offseason priorities and the top ones need to be making sure that Watson has everything he needs.

Jenny Dial Creech, a native of San Antonio and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, started at the Houston Chronicle in 2005 as a high school sports reporter. She has since covered an array of beats and served as an assistant sports editor and senior editor of Texas Sports Nation. Creech is the president of the Association for Women in Sports Media and was awarded the 2015 APSE Diversity Fellowship. In addition to her role at the Houston Chronicle, Creech also works with several high school and college journalists at Columbia University journalism conferences and workshops.